Beyond these walls
by TheRendezvousPoint
Summary: It's over. Finished. The Titans are dying one by one and those within the walls celebrate their freedom. The Survey Corps are tasked with exploration beyond the walls as well ensuring the Titans are really gone, so what happens when Armin finds a map of the outside world that might just spark an expedition to the sea.


A/N: Hi, this is my first Attack on Titan fanfic so forgive me if it's off in places. I'm from England so I'm using the name spellings used in the anime/manga translations in case anyone was wondering. Also there will be some pairings in this such as Levihan, Eremika and various others ( I haven't quite thought about it because the pairings aren't really the main focus of this) oh and there's swearing so be warned!

Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan in anyway shape or form.

~oO0Oo~

The late morning sun filtered in through dusty windows, lighting up the otherwise dingy office and allowing it's occupant to read the reports in front of her. Hange sighed and slumped back in her chair. She had to admit, since the fall of the Titans life had become pretty boring. Of course she would never wish for the titans back but now she had nothing to do, no goal to strive for. In the two short months since the titans were defeated a number of small expeditions had been taken beyond the wall to survey the lands and collect data. These had kept Hange occupied initially but she was forced to back out of the last expedition due to nothing more than a simple cold.

Hange stood and approached the nearby window, the sun glinting off her glasses. She smirked as she remembered Levi's disgusted face when she entered Erwin's office to explain with red puffy eyes and a dripping nose. Upon Erwin's orders he had escorted her back to her room to make sure she went back to bed. He'd also promised to bring something interesting back for her to study when she'd moaned about missing the expedition.

The expedition should have been back by now.

A lone rider caught her attention as it dashed into the yard her window overlooked. A slim blonde figure vaulted off the horses back, landing lightly before grabbing a satchel tied to the saddle. Hange frowned thinking they looked a lot like Armin but struggled to think of a reason for a visit. However she was not surprised when a few minutes later there was a knock on her office door.

'Come in, Armin!' she called, turning to the door as it swung open. Though he raised an eyebrow Armin did not comment, a single glance at the window was enough explanation.

'Ms Hange! I have something important to show you!' he said, an air of excitement buzzing around him.

Armin had changed significantly since she first met him, Hange observed as he approached her desk. He was slightly taller and he'd grown his hair out longer so that it now needed to be held back in a small ponytail. Furthermore his cheeks had hollowed slightly and he now had an air of confidence about him that he had not had previously. However there was a renewed sparkle in his eyes, something that had dulled as they fought battle after battle.

'So what brings you all the way out to Shiganshina from the palace?' Hange asked as she sat at her desk and offered him the seat opposite. Armin remained standing, however, and instead rummaged about in his satchel and extracted a large, dusty tome from within. He placed it on the desk and carefully leafed through the yellowing pages. Once he'd reached the relevant pages he swivelled the book so that it faced her. Before her was a hand drawn map spanning two pages of the book. It showed clearly the three rings of the walls but encompassing those were more lines in an odd shape and it had been labelled along one side.

'The new world…' Hange read aloud and her eyes widened, 'Armin! Is this a map of the outside world?' he nodded and grinned.

'That's not all of it either.' He said and turned to the next page in the book. There the walls were marked by a small circle inside a much smaller version of the shape on the previous page. Arranged around it were several more odd shapes ranging from tiny specks to as large as the one the walls were located within.

'But… this is a map of the whole world! This is incredible! Where did you find it?' Hange cried, flicking between the two pages.

'That I'd like to know too.' Came a voice from the doorway, startling the eager pair.

'Levi!'

'Captain!'

'You're late!' Hange stood upright with hands on hips and stared accusingly at the smaller man in the doorway.

'And you weren't at the gate. Where were you?' he shot back.

'I was held up.' She said indicating Armin and his book. 'What about you? What's your excuse?'

Levi pushed off from the doorframe and approached the desk. 'We were held up.' He answered with a shrug of the shoulders.

Hange quirked an eyebrow, 'Titan?' Levi nodded.

'It was dying but I guess that made it all the more eager to kill people. The demented duo, Sasha and Connie, took it down before it caused too much of a problem.'

Hange breathed a sigh of relief: it would be an unkind twist of fate for someone to lose their life now.

'I suppose it's our turn then. Armin, show Levi what you just showed me.'

Armin stepped towards the desk. When Levi had made them jump he had instinctively grabbed the book and clutched it tight to his chest as if to protect it. Now he held it open to Levi who gently took the book, his eyes widening as he realised what was on the two pages.

'Shit Armin, where the hell did you find this?' Levi asked again, handing the book back to Armin.

'Well, I was investigating the palace library and I managed to find a hidden door.' Armin began whilst Levi muttered something about being in a murder mystery.

'It would seem that the royals weren't destroying the confiscated books about the outside world but were actually storing them in this hidden room. There are hundreds of them all about different aspects of the world! But what interested me most was this,' he tapped his finger on the spot where wall Maria was closest to the outline. 'Everything outside the lines is the sea and by my calculations from here,' he indicated the eastern district on the outside of wall Maria, 'it would only take a few days to a week to reach the sea.'

'What's your point Armin?' Levi prompted when he faltered.

'W-well I was wondering, hoping actually, that Ms Hange would lead an expedition to the sea.'

Hange stared at Armin, frozen in place with mouth agape. This was exactly the kind of project she'd been looking for.

'Hange are you going to answer him?' Levi asked after a few seconds of silence. 'OI, SHITTY-GLASSES'

The raised voice snapped Hange back into action and she grinned.

'Of course Armin! The scientific data gathered from such an expedition would alone be worth the effort but… it'll be up to Erwin…' her face fell at the thought, the commander was a hard person to persuade. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Levi begin to walk away.

'Where're you going?'

'To find Erwin.' He said looking back over his shoulder at her. 'You two geniuses coming or not?'

'Genius? Ha! That's your worst attempt to insult me yet!' Hange shouted after Levi's retreating back and vaulted over her desk to run after him. Armin simply shook his head and followed quickly after them.


End file.
